吉蓮•邰蒂(Gillian Tett)，英國《金融時報》美國執行主編，作者
Gillian Tett, US managing editor at the FT and author
有三件事是我希望進大學前我就知道的。首先，如果你去參加派對或去酒吧，一定要儘量喝水，喝多少杯酒就要喝多少杯水：相信我，你以後會感激我的。第二，對所有人都要友善，因為你完全不知道他們最終會變成什麼樣。你會改變，他們會改變，有一天你可能會想和他們當朋友，即使你當初沒想過會跟對方做朋友。第三，也是最重要的——追隨你的激情。千萬別覺得你必須隨大流，去當一個會計師或者律師，僅僅因為別人都這麼做。
There are three things I wished I had known before I went to university. First, if you go to parties or bars, make sure you drink as many glasses of water as of alcohol: believe me, you will be grateful later on. Second, be friendly with everybody because you never know where they will end up. You will change, they will change and one day you may want to be friends with them even if you don’t think you do initially. Third, and the most important thing, is follow your passions. Don’t feel you have to follow the crowd and become an accountant or lawyer just because everyone else is doing it.
馬丁•沃爾夫(Martin Wolf)，英國《金融時報》首席經濟評論員
Martin Wolf, FT chief economics commentator
關於“你希望你在18歲時就知道的事？”這個問題，我的答案是：沒有。我那時已經知道，大學會令人非常興奮，會讓你受到知識薰陶，結果對我本人來說正是如此——我在牛津(Oxford)待了6年。它在知識方面非常深刻地改變了我。我敢肯定我當時不知道自己未來會怎樣，如果我現在回顧人生——那是50多年前了——所有的快樂和興奮都來自於那些你不曾預想過的事。
The answer to that question [what do you wish you had known at 18?] is nothing. I already knew that university was going to be very exciting, intellectually rewarding as it turned out to be for me — I was at Oxford for six years. It changed me very profoundly intellectually. I’m sure I didn’t know what was going to happen to me and if I look back on my life now — this is more than 50 years ago — all pleasure and excitement comes out of the things you never expected.
傑米•薩斯坎德(Jamie Susskind)，大律師、《未來政治》(Future Politics)一書的作者
Jamie Susskind, barrister and author of ‘Future Politics’
你最早遇到的人不一定會成為你最好的朋友，不用為此擔心。別成天想著參加什麼人都會去的那種聚會，相反，你要找到值得你深交的人，這些人可能過了幾十年和你還是朋友。
要多聽少說，你或許就能找到志同道合的人。許多人進大學時，都想告訴自己的新朋友他們是誰、他們來自哪裡，這可以理解，但聆聽同樣重要，認真傾聽來自和你完全不同的背景、千差萬別的各色人等的話吧。
The first people you meet are not necessarily going to be your best friends — don’t worry about it. Don’t get caught up in trying to go to the parties everyone’s expected to go to, rather, try to find people with whom you can forge close connections and who will be with you decades afterwards.
You may identify them by doing more listening than speaking. When a lot of people get to university, understandably, they want to tell their new friends who they are and where they are from — but it’s as important to listen, and drink in all these incredibly different people from backgrounds that are completely unlike your own.
Claer Barrett，英國《金融時報》個人理財編輯
Claer Barrett, FT personal finance editor
我花了一段時間才去上大學，我的建議是：你真的知道你為什麼要上大學，知道你想做什麼嗎？我上大學的時候，每年學費不超過9000英鎊，並且可以申請助學金。很幸運，我選擇了英語文學，這是我由衷喜愛的專業。今天如果你選錯了專業，然後想轉專業，會付出一些財務上的代價。另一件我真正希望上大學前就知道的事是，在大學期間積攢工作經驗是多麼寶貴，尤其是在課業壓力較輕的頭兩年。我大二才加入校報，如果我當初在時間更充裕的大一就加入了，就可以做更多報道了。
It took me a while to go to university, and that would be my advice: do you really know why you want to go to university and what you want to do? When I went it didn’t cost more than £9,000 a year in tuition fees, and grants were available. I was very lucky in that I chose to study English literature, which is a subject I really liked. If you make a mistake today and want to switch courses, there are financial consequences. The other thing I really wish I’d known before I went is how valuable it is to get work experience while at university, especially in the first couple of years when the academic pressures were slightly less. I didn’t get involved with the university newspaper until my second year. If I had got involved in my first year when I had more time, I would have been able to do a lot more reporting.
Phil Wang，喜劇演員
Phil Wang, comedian
跟你的女朋友或男朋友分手，別黏在一起。把所有人都甩在後面。你的愛情並不特別，大學是一片廣闊天地，你應該去好好發掘。還有，加入一些社團。我當初沒加入過，我真希望自己加入了。你在大學可能還會患上“濫竽充數綜合症”，覺得你不配上大學。你得知道大家都會有這種感覺。要麼樣樣都嘗試，要麼專長於某事，但千萬不要平庸地做一件事。如果你註定平庸，至少平庸地做一大堆事，這樣你就擁有了全面的經驗。
Break up with your girlfriend or boyfriend, don’t stay together. Leave everyone behind. Your love is not special, there’s a wider world out there and you should take advantage of it. Also, join some societies. I didn’t do that, and I wish I had. It’s possible to feel imposter syndrome at university, that you don’t deserve to be there. You should be aware that everybody feels that way. Either have a balanced experience or excel at something, but don’t be mediocre at one thing. If you’re going to be mediocre, at least be mediocre at a bunch of things so you have a full experience.
西蒙•庫柏(Simon Kuper)，英國《金融時報》專欄作家
Simon Kuper, FT columnist
我最後悔的是把太多時間泡在大學酒吧裡，和別人一起發牢騷。大學有這麼多有趣的事情和人，而且學業——如果你學進去了——有趣的不得了。在你生命中的這段時期，你可以自由地吸收有趣的東西。我希望我當初不那麼傲慢，我希望我當初更認真地聽我的同齡人，以及那些學者們的話。上大學前，一定要先學會聆聽。
The thing I regret most is spending too much time in the college bar with other people moaning about stuff. There were so many more interesting things and people, and the work — if you get into it — is fantastically interesting. It’s the time in your life when you’re free to just absorb interesting stuff. I wish I had had no arrogance — I wish I had listened better to my peers and to the academics. Learn to listen before you go.
貝內迪克特•艾倫(Benedict Allen)，作家、探險家
Benedict Allen, author and explorer
我的情況很不尋常。從少年時代起，我就想成為一名探險家。我有一個非常明確的榜樣，我的父親，他是一名轟炸機試飛員，所以我想：我要當一名開拓者，我要當這樣的人。問題在於我不知道該怎麼著手。我認為我選擇了正確的專業，環境科學，但某種程度上來說我是在等待時機，而且我必須努力讓自己的夢想成真。這就是問題所在，究竟怎麼才能成為一名探險家，並以此為生？我方向非常明確，我上大學時非常明確地知道自己最後要幹什麼，對我來說怎樣達成這一目標才是問題。我壓根沒有一絲疑慮。也許這本身也是個問題，因為有疑慮是件好事。我那幾年只能堅持，直到我小有名氣。
I was very unusual. From boyhood I wanted to be an explorer. I had a very clear role model, my dad, who was a bomber test pilot and so I thought I want to be a pioneer, I want to be someone like that. The trouble is I didn’t know how to do it. I suppose I made the right choice of degree, which was environmental science, but I was in a way biding my time and I had to try to make my dream a reality. That was the problem — how on earth do you become an explorer and make that a living? I was very directed, in that I went to university absolutely clear on where I was going to end up, it was a question of working out how I was going to end up there. I didn’t have any doubts at all. Maybe that is a problem in itself because it’s quite good to have doubts. I just had to hang in there for years until I was better known
布洛克•馬斯特斯(Brooke Masters)，英國《金融時報》觀點評論編輯
Brooke Masters, FT opinion editor
我希望我那時能知道，我不必這麼早就做出選擇——務必保持靈活性。整個大一我都在苦苦思索：我是否選擇了正確的路線？我對未來作了正確規劃嗎？我試圖安排好所有事，為4年後做好一切準備。我希望我當初能多上一些與我專業無關的課程，放鬆地享受學習的過程。
I wish I had known that I didn’t have to make choices quite so early — to stay flexible. I agonised the whole first year about whether I was on the right course or whether I was planning the right future and tried to get everything all lined up and have everything set for four years hence. I wish I had taken more classes that had nothing to do with my major and relaxed and enjoyed it.
詹姆斯•克拉布特裡(James Crabtree)，前記者、學者、著有《億萬富翁的天下》(The Billionaire Raj)
James Crabtree, former journalist, academic and author of ‘The Billionaire Raj’
你在職業生涯早期做出的決定，並不會在很大程度上限制你最終會幹什麼。我就是在新聞和公共政策之間轉換。在不同職業間來回轉換其實相當容易。人們有種感覺：你在大學以及剛畢業時做的決定，將對你未來10年或20年的職業產生巨大影響，但我越來越認為這是種錯覺，只要你總體上了解你對什麼感興趣以及你想做什麼。如果你要轉換職業跑道——說起來可能有點老套——但關鍵不是你知道什麼，而是你認識誰。重要的是廣結人脈。人們被困住的原因是他們太早深陷其中，陷在一個職業裡，在本領域以外誰也不認識。記者這行常常有這種情況。在我職業生涯的前半部分——我今年40歲了——我能做的最有趣的事就是認識一些與我所處領域有些距離的人。我們都聽說終身職業已經消亡了，而這就是其在實際中的意義。
The decisions you take early in your career are not that binding in where you may end up. I have moved between journalism and public policy. It’s pretty easy to move back and forward between different professions. There is a sense that the decision you take at university, and straight after, has a huge effect on where you end up in 10 or 20 years’ time and increasingly I have come to believe that is not true, as long as you have a broad sense of what you’re interested in and what you want to do. If you want to move between professions, it’s a bit of a cliché, but it’s not about what you know but who you know. What matters is developing a wide network. The thing that catches people is they go deep far too early, get stuck in one profession and don’t have any connections outside that area. It’s often true for journalists. Over the course of the first half of my career — I’m 40 now — the most interesting things I have been able to do have come from knowing people a number of hops away from where I happen to be. We hear about the death of the job for life, and this is what that means in practice.
羅伯特•施裡姆斯利(Robert Shrimsley)，專欄作家、英國《金融時報》編輯部主任
Robert Shrimsley, columnist and FT editorial director
我一直希望自己學會的一個教訓，而且我得說我至今尚未學會，就是懂得閉嘴。當我腦子裡有些想法時，或有些事我真的覺得要說出來時，我很難閉口不談。我欽佩有些人能在會議或談話的絕大多數時間都安安靜靜坐著，然後提出一個絕對令人印象深刻的觀點，令人們充滿敬意，因為他們沒有把所有時間浪費在高談闊論上。在各行各業，人們都很容易變成說得多聽得少，但從聆聽中你會獲得更多。當你真的有些事要說，而且需要人們認真對待時，如果你是一個相對寡言少語的人，當你開口說話時，人們會予以更多關注。
The lesson I always wish I’d learnt, and I have to say I still haven’t learnt it, is the ability to shut up. I’m very bad at keeping my mouth shut when something’s on my mind, or when there is something I really feel the need to say. I admire the people who can sit very, very quietly for most of a meeting or conversation and come in with one absolutely devastating point that carries immense respect because they don’t spend their whole time mouthing off. In all walks of life, it’s very easy to be the person who talks rather than the person who listens, but you gain more from listening. When you have something you really need to say and need to be taken seriously, if you’re a person of relatively few words, people pay more attention to you when you do speak.
亨利•芒斯(Henry Mance)，英國《金融時報》政治事務記者
Henry Mance, FT political correspondent
獲得本科學位後，我讀了兩年制碩士課程，我努力學習，儘自己所能去拿一個較高的學位。現在回想起來，我希望我當初能知道，我能取得什麼等級的成績實際上並不重要。重要的是我瞭解什麼是自己感興趣的，並專注於此，以一種對以後就業有用的方式——至少讓我知道我想找什麼樣的工作。本科畢業後，有一個花時間嘗試不同職業或企業的機會，以此瞭解你要選擇的碩士學位，以及你要學的專業課程。我希望我當初能這麼做。本科畢業後直接念碩士，可能只是一段重複的經歷，而不是一段能在職業上塑造你的、真正不同的經歷。
After my undergraduate degree I did a two-year masters, and worked to make sure I got the best possible degree. In retrospect, what I wish I’d known is that it didn’t actually matter so much what precise grade I got. What mattered was that I understood what I was interested in and focused in on that in a way that was going to be useful for the jobs market afterwards — or was at least going to give me a sense of the kind of jobs I wanted to look for. There is an opportunity to take time after undergraduate study to try out careers or companies and use that to inform the masters degree you choose and what modules you do. I wish I had done that. Going from an undergraduate degree straight on to a masters risks a repeat experience instead of being a really different one aimed at shaping you in your career.
以下是一位大學職業專家對新生的忠告：
喬納森•布萊克(Jonathan Black)，牛津大學職業服務主任、英國《金融時報》專欄作家
And this is what a university careers expert tells new students
Jonathan Black, director of the University of Oxford’s careers service and FT columnist
我希望我在大一就知道我不必每晚都出去。當我坐在房間裡，寫文章或看課堂筆記時，我能聽到“大家”都玩得很開心。我感到有壓力要出去，到學生社團、酒吧去和別人聊天。到了大二我才認識到有時候呆在屋子裡也沒問題，甚至是很好的，可以聽聽音樂，讀一本書，甚至在截止期限前完成論文。我現在知道這樣做可以為我建立社交能量儲備，並重新把我自己的注意力放在我是誰上面。如果你今年秋天就要上大學，你可能會同時感到興奮、迷茫和有壓力。對新生們我有四個小建議：
I wish I had known in my first year that I did not have to go out every night. Sitting in my room, writing an essay or reading lecture notes, I could hear “everyone else” having a great time. I felt that pressure to be out too, at student societies, in the bar, chatting to others. By my second year, I realised it was OK, in fact good, to stay in sometimes, listen to music, read a book, even do the essay before the deadline. I now know that doing that built up my reserves of social energy, and re-centred myself on who I was. If you are going to university this autumn, it can feel exciting, bewildering, and pressured all at the same time. I have four tips for new students:
*跟上功課。這會讓你少一點焦慮、多一點自信。問問上一屆學長學姐有關功課的情況，尤其是功課很難的時候，不要覺得某門功課你學得比其他人更難。你所在的大學也會提供學習技巧方面的幫助，並幫助你保持身心健康。
*Keep up with the work. You will be less anxious and more confident. Ask the year above about the work, especially if it is hard, and do not assume you are finding it harder than everyone else. Your university will also offer help on study skills, and maintaining your physical and mental health.
*參與學生活動。做一些你以前做過的事，也嘗試些新鮮事物，但不要在新生周什麼都嘗試。
*Get involved in student activities. Try something you have done before and something new, but not all in Freshers’ Week.
*做你真正的自己，恪守你的價值觀。如果你覺得不太好，就不要隨大流。
*Stay true to yourself and your values. Do not follow the crowd if you are not comfortable.
……儘量少用社交媒體。雖然你會需要它來安排活動，但它會輕易讓你分心，妨礙你跟上功課和去認識人。
. . . and minimise social media. While you will need it for organising activities, it can easily distract you from keeping up with work and meeting people.
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